Page 10 of Violence and Vice

“Last night Ares was in Queens and took out Luciano,” Sysco begins. On the board, Harry writes the date,Queens, Luciano.

“The day before, I found a bloody shirt stuffed in the garbage, and Ares told me he couldn’t remember what he’d done that day,” I say, my stomach twisting with all of this damn uncertainty.

Harry notes it on the board.Victim?

“Wednesday was the day Ares ditched us at breakfast,” Sysco brings up. “Remember, he got some kind of notification, got all weird, and took off?”

“What happened the rest of that day?” Harry asks me as he makes notes.

“Nothing that I know for sure,” I say, running my brain through the rest of the day. “He was gone all day, but I didn’t hear of anything suspicious.”

“Cliff called us in for that meeting,” Sysco continues. “When he told us that Mike and Beth had been killed. That was Monday.”

Harry adds their names to the list, dating the event.

“I went to Ares’ office that day as well,” I add. “The secretary said something about their accountant not showing up and that it was weird. When I checked with James yesterday, he said Tom hadn’t been into work since that day.”

Sysco swears under his breath and shakes his head.

Harry adds Tom’s name to the list, as well as the day.

“Who else am I missing?” I say aloud, wracking my brain for more. Surely there must be more. Shit, I hope there isn’t more.

“Felix,” Harry says as he writes his former employee’s name down, adding yesterday’s date.

Damnit. I forgot about Felix.

“I can’t think of anyone else,” I say as I rub my eyes. How can I be so tired and not at the same time? “Was there anything else that happened prior to this?” I ask as I blink my eyes back open and scan the board. “Anything that seemed suspicious? Any other deaths you heard about, or other people missing?”

“I couldn’t get ahold of Cliff this morning,” Harry says as he looks back at me and Sysco.

My stomach drops out. A curse slips over my lips.

“Fuck,” Sysco joins my sailor language expression hour. “Ares has been annoyed as hell at Cliff for a week. You think Ares got to him? A Baron?”

“Sounds like it doesn’t matter what someone’s title is,” Harry points out. “If he’s not in control, he’s not in control. He could just as easily come after me or you next, Sysco. Not sure about you, Lana, considering you’re a… Made.”

“Shit, I didn’t even think about that,” I say. “He isn’t just picking people he doesn’t like. You two are in as much danger as Cliff.”

“Hold on,” Sysco says as he pulls out his phone. Since he’s seated next to me, I see him pull up Cliff’s name. He hits call and holds it to his ear.

It doesn’t even ring. It immediately goes to his voicemail.

“Shit, Ares might have killed Cliff,” Sysco says with wide eyes. “We probably better go check his house and his office.”

As in check for a body.

Fuck.

As much as no one seems to like Cliff, do any of us really think he needs to die? More than anything, I don’t want to see more blood on Ares’ hands.

“What about Giovanni?” I ask, feeling something coil in my stomach. “Has anyone heard anything from him since he came after me?”

Sysco’s eyes darken as he looks at me. I can see in his expression the answer he’s settling on as to what Gio’s fate should be for coming after me. “No.”

“There hasn’t been a reason to talk to him,” Harry says, even as he pulls his phone out. He taps on the screen a few times and holds it to his ear. He waits a few moments.

“Gio,” Harry says, and my heart about jumps into my throat. “Just checking.”